Former Enron Broadband leader Rex Shelby gets a slap on the wrist

Now that Rex Shelby, the former senior vice president of engineering operations at Enron Broadband Services (EBS), has been sentenced to two years of probation, the case against the energy giant's telecom division can be finally be put to rest.

Although he had been facing up to 10 years in prison for insider trading, a federal court in Houston has ordered to serve three months in a halfway house and three months in home confinement.

"I take full responsibility for my actions, all my decisions at Enron," Shelby told U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore, who has also required him to serve 230 hours of community service.

In 2003, Shelby was first indicted on the insider trading charges along with six other former Enron executives over overstating the capabilities of the EBS unit, which never was able to make a profit, to pump up its stock. Enron created EBS in 1998 to sell services to the host of new .com companies that emerged at the time.